This January, the Armed Forces of Ukraine intend to start selecting military personnel to work with the Javelin, the American portable antitank surface-to-air missile, according to the information published on the Ukrainian Military Pages website.

“Preparation of the candidates will start on January 15 at the Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyi National Ground Forces Academy. It will include language training so candidates can build the necessary level of English,” the website writes.

Upon acquiring the necessary language skills, the “selected candidates will be sent abroad to receive military training on how to operate the antitank missiles.” The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine neither confirmed nor denied the information.

At the same time, head of the press service of the Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyi National Ground Forces Academy, Anton Myronovych told Interfax-Ukraine that there was no precise date for the start of the training on Javelin missiles systems.

“There is only a discussion on how to organize the trining. However, there was no direct order to organize it, and the [Javelins] are not in Ukraine yet,” he said in an interview on Friday. At the same time, Myronovych said that Ukraine was ready to start such preparations any time soon, waiting only for a respective order as well as foreign instructors and Javelin training samples to arrive in Ukraine.

“Ukraine expects 250 military personnel from the United States to arrive soon. But the preparation program approved for their arrival does not include the language course mentioned in the media. Though, it could be launched soon if there is a respective order,” the head of the press service stressed.

Myronovych also noted that the training of Ukrainian military by the US instructors is part of the US advisory and assistance program for Ukraine.